Natalia Silva captured UFC gold. She beat Wang Cong by unanimous decision in the UFC 332 main event Saturday night at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, capturing the belt Valentina Shevchenko vacated last month.

Shevchenko didn't stay quiet for long. According to Yahoo Sports MMA and Bloody Elbow, the former champion reacted to Silva's win by telling her to keep it warm, with the message carrying a clear edge: don't get too comfortable.

Silva, for her part, isn't interested in sitting on the title waiting for Shevchenko to heal up. Speaking to Yahoo Sports MMA, she made it clear she's ready to defend against whoever is next in line. 'First of all, there's many, many great girls out there and tough opponents,' Silva said, echoing comments from Dana White about wanting her to stay active rather than hold the belt hostage for one matchup.

The numbers back up how competitive this division has become. Our Elo model has Silva at 1616 off seven bouts, actually ahead of Shevchenko's 1563 across four fights tracked.

Silva entered UFC 332 as the number one ranked contender in the division, so this was a title shot that had been building. Now the question is what's next. Shevchenko's status remains uncertain given her vacancy, but her warning shot suggests she isn't planning on staying on the sidelines forever. For Silva, the job is simpler: take on the next great contender, prove the belt wasn't a one night rental, and make sure whoever eventually gets the rematch has to fight for it.